


Stirring Up Trouble

by Ellienerd14



Category: Class (TV 2016), Doctor Who & Related Fandoms
Genre: Am I proud?, Bill and Matteusz are best friends trust me, Enjoy my best AND worst creation, F/F, F/M, Is this crack?, Ive been trying to finish this for months, M/M, The Great British Bake Off, The bake off au you guys actually asked for, Throwing in a good Marlie sideplot because Im good to you, who knows - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-04-25 14:31:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14380623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellienerd14/pseuds/Ellienerd14
Summary: “I might not last longer than a week,” Matteusz reminds him, not quite prepared to share his confidence. “You might be here next week to pick me up defeated.”“If you don’t win, you’re not welcome back,” Charlie jokes, which Matteusz actually laughs at, despite the worry twisting in his stomach. “I’ll miss you,” he adds, after the train is called in a monotone drone.“I will miss you too. But, I will call you lots. Please, do not burn our kitchen down.”~After his boyfriend enters him for 'Bake Off', Matteusz finds himself in the final, with one challenge standing between him and sweet victory. After weeks of competing in the tent, befriending the hosts and cooking up a storm, can he go the extra mile and win?





	Stirring Up Trouble

**Author's Note:**

> Underlined text should link to images of the cakes. Let me know if it doesn't work!

**NINE WEEKS AGO**

“It really goes without saying that I’m cheering you on,” Charlie says, with the same fond smile he usually saves for exclusively Matteusz. He’s holding his bag like a gentleman, looking oddly proud as the couple waits together for the morning train.

“That was obvious yes,” Matteusz agrees, “considering you were the one who signed me up.”

Charlie keeps grinning. It’s a welcome sight. “The world should see how talented of a chef you are, Matti.”

“I might not last longer than a week,” Matteusz reminds him, not quite prepared to share his confidence. “You might be here next week to pick me up defeated.”

“If you don’t win, you’re not welcome back,” Charlie jokes, which Matteusz actually laughs at, despite the worry twisting in his stomach. “I’ll miss you,” he adds, after the train is called in a monotone drone.

“I will miss you too. But, I will call you lots. Please, do not burn our kitchen down.”

“Don’t worry, I will not touch the oven. Did you really have to put a sign up?” Charlie asks, pouting.

Matteusz smiles. He could always trust Charlie to say the right words to put him at ease. “Yes.”

The train pulls up with a hiss, so Matteusz slings his arms around Charlie’s shoulders and gives him a kiss that will last for (hopefully) nine weeks. Reluctantly, Charlie hands over his bag.

It could be the last time they see each other in weeks.

“I love you. But, seriously, please do not burn down our kitchen.”

Charlie hugs him tight before reluctantly letting go as the announcer announces the final call for the ten am train. “I love you too. I promise I won’t burn anything down. Your Babcia offered to cook for me anyway. Also, I love you.”

“You said that already.”

“It’s important,” Charlie says with a sense of urgency as Matteusz slowly made his way onto the train to Somerset. “Have fun. Get me Bill’s autograph. Bake well. You’ll do great. I love you!”

The doors close, cutting off his voice, and leaving Matteusz to only wave as the train pulled away from London. It felt stupid to be so anxious about a baking competition but it was his dream.

(Little did either of them know the next nine weeks would make him a Bake Off finalist and national sweetheart.)

 

* * *

 

**PRESENT**

The Bake Off judges consisted of Thero Smith, who was so Scottish even his eyebrows were mildly aggressive and still seemed to be going through a punk phrase despite being old enough to act like a father figure to pretty much everyone who competed (even Sarah-Jane, who was his age, so maybe it was just his nature). He was joined by Dorothea Ames who had a slightly unsettling energy about her and only wore red formal wear that made her seem more like a school teacher than a chef. In contrast, the two hosts were adorable. Bill Potts, who had produced a pride flag themed handkerchief when Matteusz had a break down in week four (meringues were hard) and was generally a wholesome gay icon. Bill worked with Clara Oswald who was a fiesty nanny-turned-host who was so short she tended to avoid interviewing him. (Clara had spend most of her time flirting with everyone who was interested, including both judges, Bill and John’s wife.)

It had been an emotional couple of weeks. Seeing anyone go was heart-wrenching (Ram had proposed to his girlfriend the day after, which made the internet break down and #Macsingh trend on twitter) Meringues really were tough (Sarah-Jane had been Matteusz’ favourite until she left and she was rooting for him to win because he reminded her of Luke, her own son).

It was worth it, because somehow Charlie got it right: Matteusz made it to the final three. It seemed impossible but victory seemed close enough to touch. There was only one challenge left of the final and if Matteusz could win the showstopper, he was almost guaranteed the title. (Even if April or Quill beat him, he would at least see Charlie later. Matteusz definitely underestimated how much he would be missing his boyfriend.)  

“Hello finalists,” Bill greets, bouncing into the tent with the same excited puppy-like energy as usual, “one challenge left! And a daunting one at that.”

“For your final showstopper,” Dorothea continues, with her usually confident smirk, “is based off something that unites us all-“

“Weapons!” Quill yells, the same time April whispers “swords,” which only makes Matteusz consider letting them win for the sake of living long enough to get to see Charlie again.

“-the sky,” Theo finishes, with a bright grin. “We need you to make a cake with the theme of the sky above us. Get creative. You only have five hours.”

(Before he actually took part, Matteusz used to scoff at the use of ‘only’. Now he was doing panicky mental math and trying to multitask. And the clock hadn’t even started yet.)

“Good luck,” Clara adds, with a genuine smile that does little to reassure anyone. (Maybe Quill but she’s fearless in the first place.)

The clock starts ticking.

 

* * *

 

It takes a full five minutes of panicking before Matteusz realises the obvious - stars. The idea doesn’t come from looking up, it comes from looking back to his favourite source of inspiration: Charlie.

Charlie Smith, his ridiculous dork of a boyfriend, who had always been massive space nerd - in the way that meant he went on long rambles about the universe at least once a week. Being away from him for the past few weeks means Matteusz hadn’t heard a spacey-wacey ramble in a long time and he weirdly missed them. Charlie’s eyes always lit up when he mentioned constellations.

Or maybe he was just missing his boyfriend. Either way, Matteusz now had an idea for his last cake. And even if he didn’t win, Charlie was going to love it.

That was motivation enough to get started.

 

* * *

 

The judges and hosts usually travelled in packs, like cake-hungry wolves. It was kinda intimating - well most of them were.

“Hey Matteusz,” Bill says, stealing a marshmallow from his station and grinning with the full force of lesbian wholesomeness. “Smells nice over here.”

“So, what are you making for us today?” Clara asked, doing her best to look him in the eye - not an easy task for her, considering he was at least a foot taller than her. (Even in heels.)

“Am making red velvet cakes which I will stack to make a three layer cake decorated with a mirror glaze to look like a galaxy.”

“You have got to add glitter,” Bill replies eagerly, whilst everyone else just stares. “I mean, it’s obvious.”

Clara laughs at her with a sense of fondness and somehow manages to pull her into a side hug. “You are adorable.”

“Glitter - I will write that down.”

Bill’s too busy looking like she’s about die at Clara’s touch to reply, so Dorothea cuts in the conversation.  

“It’s very tricky to get one colour of mirror glaze right, do you think you can cope with a galaxy design. You’d only have one shot to get it right.”

Matteusz tries not to shrink under her gaze. “I am confident I can cope.”

“You’re the youngest finalist,” John adds in, “do you think you can beat April and Quill?”

(Dorothea visually perks up at Quill’s name. She hadn’t kept her interest in the woman a secret and she was the only one who seemed to ever understand any of Quill’s complex cake metaphors about battlefields and kittens and the Star Wars trilogy.)

The other finalist, April had been one half of a baking power couple, although Ram had left two weeks ago after dropping his cake. It was a very dramatic exit, given he proposed to April before officially leaving. Since then, she had a new drive (and a nice ring). She was kind, creative and artsy in a way that reminded Matteusz of his boyfriend a little.

Quill was strange and if she hadn’t been competing, Matteusz would have doubted if she even watched a show like ‘Bake Off’. Quill always wore black leather jackets and tall heels. She was smart and had more more baking experience than either of them. She was mysterious - Matteusz didn’t know if ‘Quill’ was a first, last or nickname.

Quill had won Dorothea’s favour from day one. (And Bill’s and Clara’s, although they weren’t as scarily ‘ _intrigued_ ’ in her.) Quill was definitely his biggest threat. Maybe literally given her ex-military background and tendency to throw things at producers (“it’s what the BBC deserve,” she insisted).

Matteusz wasn’t sure if he could beat them both. However, he also wasn’t sure that it mattered.

“As long as I make my boyfriend proud, I will be happy,” Matteusz answers, going for a neutral reply. “Charlie is a big dork. He loves space and nebulas and is probably an alien. If I could give him a real galaxy, I would do it in a heartbeat. So, I hope a cake version will do.”

Bill makes a soft ‘aww’ sound and even Dorothea seemed moved by his reply.

“We wish you the best of luck,” Theo says, smiling at him. “And as you put it, I’m also a ‘space dork’ so I’m watching you.” Then he winks, which will definitely break the internet. (There was a strange, thirsty subculture of the ‘Bake Off’ fandom that Matteusz had found on tumblr. He was pretty sure that Dorothea was part of it.)

“I’ll be back later to taste test,” Bill promises, as she’s being pulled away by Clara; she’s still a little flustered at the contact.

There's a few moments of calmness as the judges and hosts chat to April about her pineapple cake. Matteusz lets himself get lost in the simple tasks of mixing and setting timers and listening to the wind against the plastic of tent windows.

The silence is broken a few minutes later: “Hey Matteusz, how’s it going?” April asks, leaning over her station to get a good look at him.

“Should I really be telling you that?”

She laughs prettily, “now you’re getting competitive. Only took till the last challenge.”

“You should be like me,” Quill cuts in, slamming her oven door aggressively.

“You got a warning for throwing that cake tin,” April reminds her, rubbing her elbow (she got caught up in the crossfire, it was probably an accident).

“I’m still here,” Quill replies, rolling her eyes. “A little aggression never hurt anyone.”

“I don’t know,” April says, frowning, “that producer hasn’t come back.”

“He needed reprogramming,” Quill snarks back in response. “Nothing to do with a cake pan that was or was not thrown.” She smiled in April’s direction. “Now, stop distracting me from my coffee-flavoured buttercream.”

“Oh god!” April says in a panic, “my buttercream!”

In a way, Matteusz will miss this. The bickering, the smell of icing sugar and concentration needed for completing a perfect recipe. It was always his dream to take part in the competition and now he was close enough to win, it was exciting.

Behind him, April swore as she pulled her icing out of the oven. (Even Quill laughed at her stream of unladylike cursing; it’s a weird, wonderful day.)

 

* * *

 

“One hour!” Bill announces, smiling faintly at them, “make it worth it guys!”

As far as Matteusz has managed to figure out so far, Quill was making a meteor-crash themed cake that involved a lot of hitting crimson streaked sugar with a hammer. April was busy making clouds out of candy floss - she had gone for the more obvious theme. Both of their cakes looked fairly impressive: Matteusz still wasn’t sure who was going to win, even as the clock ticked down, leaving them with forty-five minutes to perfect their sweet creations. It was starting to make him feel jittery.

He was caught between daydreaming between winning the whole contest and daydreaming about seeing Charlie again. (Skype was not quite the same. And he was still slightly concerned their kitchen would not have survived his absence.)

“So, how’s it going?” Bill asks, stealing some cake left on the side. She makes a happy humming noise. “I love red velvet cake. Please cook for me next time I have a date.”

“Is an honour,” Matteusz replies.

“I’m free Sunday,” Clara calls, which makes Bill blush furiously.

“Cool,” she replies, in a tone that sounds far from what she’s claiming, “cool, cool, cool, cool.”

“You’re adorable.”

“Cool.” Bill blinks and then catches Matteusz smiling and shaking his head at her at her. “Shut up.”

“I say nothing to you.”

“It was implied,” Bill replies, still flustered,  “you guys have thirty minutes left!”

 

* * *

 

There’s a sense of calm before the storm as Matteusz carefully adds the final piping of details on the bottom. With only two minutes left, he probably should be more panicked (like April who was literally running across the kitchen) or gritterly determined for perfection (like Quill, who was adding sugar shards with tweezers as if she had all the time in the world). However, all Matteusz could focus on was how fun the whole journey was - winning would be the icing on the cake (Charlie would pull a fond look at the pun later, he was sure) but it was good enough cake without the icing. (Maybe five hours was too long to spend baking - he was hungry and exhausted and rose to easy at baking puns.)

“Time up! Step away from your cakes!”

“First up,” Dorothea calls, with her signature smirk, “the lovely Quill.”

“Lovely is pushing it a little,” she asks, head-tilted (it was hard to tell if they were flirting or not, which made Matteusz convinced the two stubborn women were perfect for each other).

“I tell only the truth my dearest Quill.”

“So,” Theo cuts in after a long, tense moment of direct eye contact, “do you want to explain your cake to us?”

[“I’d be delighted. I made for you an espresso and dark chocolate cake with lemon in the icing. Decorated like the sight of an asteroid crash as it’s the most violent thing I could imagine falling from the sky.”](https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.pinterest.com/amp/pin/517773288394168679/?source=images%20)

Usually they would be getting feedback - an optimistic remark from Theo and something brutally honest from Dorothea but given it was the finale, there was only silence and poker faces. Very intimating.

“April, could you bring up your cake?”

She beams as she presents her pastel creation. It was impressive, Matteusz would have to admit, careful layers of buttercream (rescued from the oven and overlapped) that slowly build up a blue to white gradient. Pastel colours streaked her apron and on April’s nose.

[“I made a pineapple and coconut sponge dyed pink with the outside designed to look like an idyllic summer's day,” Aprils explains in a long, rambly breath.](https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/147915168986890236/?amp_client_id=5rP8l4HEdT8tRd50w806m35qZm-ly5btr7gdgp-gwnD60b9lKrGJsttNHyJiCDrN&mweb_unauth_id=10f4cdd0dc804926a16cce9262f033a0%20)

Theo looks like he might be smiling for a second but other than that - silence.

“Finally,” Dorothea says, “our youngest competitor - Matteusz.” (He wished they’d stop referring to him as that. April was only three years older at twenty-three.)

“I made a red velvet cake,” Matteusz explains, trying to ignore the chatter outside and just focus on the final task, [“with a space theme through the mirror glaze and stars.”](https://www.asdagoodliving.co.uk/food/recipes/galaxy-mirror-glaze-cake%20)

Theo chuckles. “For your space nerd boyfriend? Oh, to be young and in love.”

Theo Smith was married for over a decade to River, who seemed to be talented at everything, and was most definitely old and in love. Matteusz hopes to still be with Charlie at his age. And to still be endeared with him.

“Speaking of which, you are all free to go and see your families as we make a decision,” Dorothea informs, “how delightful.”

“Angel delight-ful?” Bill jokes and then she gets kicked out too.

 

* * *

 

“I’ve missed you,” Charlie says, burying his face in Matteusz’’ cake-stained hoodie. “Also, I told you so.”

“You could not wait?”

“It’s a proud ‘told-you-so’,” Charlie promises, “what should I have opened with?”

“I can think of something,” Matteusz replies, and then just because it’s been nine weeks (and two days) since they were last face-to-face, he kisses Charlie.

Not for long. “Matti, that’s gross,” Cela exclaims, pulling on his sleeve and pushing Charlie away.

He only laughs at her antics. “Fine, your turn Cela.”

She hugs him in the way only your sister can. “Matti, you’re so cool! No one believed I was your sister until I successfully pronounced ‘Andrzejewski’.”  

“Baking is very cool,” Matteusz replies, glancing between Charlie and Cela. “I’ve missed you two.”

“Charlie set our kitchen on fire!” Cela tells him, delighted with such news to deliver.

Charlie makes the posh scoffing sound that is always a delight. “I did not! I set the smoke alarm off but there was no actual flames.”

“Making toast.” Cela crackles. “I can’t believe you like this stupid english boy.”

“Thank you Marcelina,” Charlie says, laughing, “forgive me?”

“No one is perfect,” Matteusz replies, reaching for Charlie’s hand. “Do you want me to introduce you to Bill Potts? I think we are best friends now.”

“I’ll have to get in line,” Charlie says, gesturing to where a dark skinned girl was looking moony-eyed at Bill and tossing her braids around, clearly enamoured with her. “You’re the only star I want to talk to.”

“Gross,” Cela says, but neither pay her attention.

“Hey cutie!” April calls, dragging Ram along with her, “this is Marcelina, right?”

“Yes!” she answers. “Hi April-from-Shoreditch! I loved your Disney cake.”

“Thank you Marcelina!” April says, smiling. “Oh wow, Charlie, you’re just as cute in person as in Matteusz’ every sentence.”

Charlie leans into his chest. “His _every_ sentence you say?”

“Says you,” Cela protests. “You cried last night because-”

“I like you kid,” April says, grinning. “Are you nervous?”

“A little.”

“Same, this is the biggest thing to happen to me.”

“Hey.” Ram touches her ring and shakes his head. “Forgetting someone?”

“Cela?” she jokes and then kisses his cheek anyways. “You know that I love you babe.”

“Well, you’ll find out now,” Ram announces, “here they come.”

Matteusz felt Cela take his free hand and squeeze. “Powodzenia,” she mutters.

“Friends, family, contestants and past winners, we invited you all here to see the winner of the 2016 Bake Off crowned. While all three of our finalists did exceptionally well, there is only one winner. Is it Quill’s asteroid cake, April’s cloud cake or Matteusz’ galaxy cake?”

“For me?” Charlie whispers.

“And,” Clara begins, opening an envelope with a classy wax seal with a touch of drama, “that winner is… Matteusz Andrzejewski!”

 _That,_ Matteusz decides, accepting his award in a state of shock, _is definitely the icing on the cake._

 

**Author's Note:**

> AHH ITS DONE 
> 
> This fic has taken me so long and I'm oddly proud? Like it went from a half-baked (haha) idea suggested to the class discord to its own fic that's double my original goal of 1,500 words. I hope you all enjoyed it and would care to validate me with a comment (even if it's just a keyboard smash!!)


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